


A Game of Hangman

by JSheets716



Category: Welcome to Hell - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Ghost Satellite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-06 00:33:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15874893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JSheets716/pseuds/JSheets716
Summary: Thanks to Sock, Jonathan finds himself in detention, again. Stripped of his phone and headphones, he is to endure the period in silence, with no talking allowed. To pass the time, Sock challenges his counterpart to a game of hangman. Jon agrees, if only to have something to do.What's a two word activity that's comprised of twelve letters?





	A Game of Hangman

**Author's Note:**

> This was my entry for the Welcome to Hell short story competition that Erica Wester announced way back in May 2016. I found it lurking in my computer so I decided to post it for the Archive to see. Aside from a spell-check, everything's remained unchanged.
> 
> The rules of the competition, if I'm remembering correctly, were as follows: 1) It has to be roughly a page long. 2) It can't have any spoken dialogue. So this was my way of getting around all that. The story was chosen as the winner of the competition, and was animated into a short by Ghost Satellite. A link to the short can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsgYfhp58YU&list=PLntL0EaWkHioUz0xHZa0G5CUqiJDffRp8&index=14&t=2s
> 
> Go check them out and support their awesome work!

Jonathan Combs glanced forward and upward, at the massive clock that slowly ticked the agonizing minutes until he was able to leave. This had been the third time this week he had to stay after school to sit in detention thanks to the shenanigans Sock had caused. Rumors were circulating around the entire school that Jonathan was crazy; rumors that would only exasperate and progress should he try to explain about the demon. He gave his counterpart a sour expression as they sat there in silence, the entire classroom devoid of life except for them and one other. An older female, a woman in her fifties, with short gray hair and glasses, was currently perusing a newspaper. She was his math teacher, and had been the arbiter of his detention sentence. She had confiscated his phone and his headphones, forcing Jonathan to pass the forty-five minutes in silence, forbidding discussion. Jonathan was seated at his desk, scribbling on a notebook to pass the time.

It was then that a ghostly hand touched his own, and Jon felt a chill go through his spine. Sock was grabbing on to the pencil, trying to guide it along. The demon had discovered that, with some help from Jon, he could manipulate physical objects in the material realm. So, Jon relaxed his hand, and let Sock take the lead in writing. Like a planchette, the two worked in tandem, gliding the pencil across the paper until Sock had written a message in neat, loopy cursive:

“Let's play a game.”

  
Jon then watched as they guided the pencil, and within a minute or two they had created the stand for a game of Hangman. Sock had written out the spaces for the phrase he wanted Jon to guess, as well as a hint. It was an activity. Two words. A four-letter word and an eight-letter word. Jon was pensive, thinking of possible solutions. Rock Climbing, perhaps? He wrote down an “R”, and grinned when Sock filled in _ _ _ _ _ _ _ r _ _ _ _ But when he guessed “C”, Sock shook his head and guided his hand to the hangman's tree, and drew on the poor bastard's head. Jon soured, but decided he wouldn't let Sock best him. So, he guessed another letter. “A”. But again, Sock guided his hand, and now his poor little stick figure possessed a body. Four more limbs later, and Jon would be out. He guessed “S” next, and was glad when Sock filled in another letter: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ r s _ _ _. He narrowed his eyes and looked at Sock, trying to figure out some way to get the demon to confess the answer without actually speaking. But Sock merely flashed him a knowing smile. Jon could swear he saw the demon's eyes practically shine with excitement.

The game progressed, and soon two more arms were added, the letters “D” and “T” bearing no fruit. Jon did get a small victory with an “I”, and the letters looked like _ i _ _ _ _ _ r s _ _ _ Jon racked his brain now, desperately trying to come up with something. Anything. “K” is what he wrote, and he grinned as Sock confirmed with K i_ _ _ _ _ r s _ _ _ showed up. What activities started with a K? Kissing? But he had already used an S. And it couldn't be “kick”, because the K was also in use. Jon guessed again, and was disappointed when “M” yielded no results. A leg was added to the hangman. Now there was only one letter left. He tried another vowel. The “O” he attempted was successful, and he grinned as Sock guided his hand, spelling out K i_ _ _ o _ r s _ _ _ What the hell was this stupid activity? Sock's expression wasn't revealing any sort of hints, no matter how long he looked into those green eyes.

He guessed his final letter, and frowned when Sock shook his head again, guiding his hand and the pencil to draw the final leg. He was dead. Sock's hand continued guiding his own, and he watched as Sock drew hair on the hangman, hair which resembled his own undercut. He drew a zipper on the hangman's chest. It was a hoodie. Sock drew X's where the eyes were. The Jon hangman was officially dead, and Sock spelled out the activity that long since eluded Jon. “Kill Yourself” Jon scowled, and glared at Sock as he guided his hand, writing out a message in cursive:

“You lose!” The message said.

Jon grabbed the pencil and wrote back, his handwriting looking like chicken scratch “I hate you.”

“Well? Giving you any ideas? Inspiration, perhaps?” Sock wrote back

“Nice try. And you REALLY suck at your job.” Jon scrawled, dropping the pencil.


End file.
